Most of our interactions with others occur within the framework of recurring social situations, and the language choices we make are intimately tied to situational features. Although the interdependence between language and social situations has been well recognized at least since G. H. Mead developed his symbolic interactionist theory, psychologists have been reluctant to devote much interest to this domain until recently. Yet it is arguable that a detailed understanding of the subtle links between situational features and language use must lie at the heart of any genuinely social psychology. This volume contains original contributions from psychologists, linguists and philosophers from the United States, Canada, Europe, Israel, and Australia who share an interest in the social-psychological aspects of language. Their work represents one of the first concentrated attempts to chart the possibilities of this exciting field. It is perhaps in order to say a few words about the origins of this book. The need for a volume integrating research on language and social situations first emerged during the 2nd International Conference of Language and Social Psychology at Bristol University in 1983, at which I was convening a symposium with a similar title at the request of the organizers, Peter Robinson and Howard Giles. When they first approached me with this idea in 1982, I gladly accepted, since my own research on cognitive representations of social episodes seemed eminently relevant to a symposium on language and social situations.

Inhalt

1. Language and Social Situations: An Introductory Review.- The Background to the Study of Language and Situations.- The Psychological Tradition.- Cognitive Approaches.- The Sociological Tradition.- The Evidence for Links Between Language and Social Situations.- Summary and an Outline of the Volume.- I. Situational Factors in Language Development.- 2. The Role of Interaction Formats in Language Acquisition.- Two Conflicting Views of Language Acquisition.- Initial Cognitive Endowment.- Support for Language Acquisition.- Shared Formats and Language Acquisition.- Some Conclusions.- 3. Situational Variations Within Social Speech Registers.- The Nature of Speech Registers.- Situational Variations in the Baby-Talk Register.- Some General Considerations.- II. Psychological Factors in Situated Language Use.- 4. Cognitive Situation Models in Discourse Production: The Expression of Ethnic Situations in Prejudiced Discourse.- Situation Models in Memory.- Situation Models in Discourse Production.- The Expression of Ethnic Prejudice.- Conclusions.- 5. Speech and Situation: A General Model for the Process of Speech Production.- The General Model.- Situational Influences.- Comparing the Model With Schlesinger's Approach.- Applying the Model to the Production of Requests.- The Situation Features Studied.- The Experimental Paradigms.- Conclusions: The Present Status of the Model.- 6. Situational Conventions and Requests.- Social Context and the Understanding of Requests.- Convention and Context in the Use of Requests.- Processing and Remembering Indirect Requests.- What Makes Some Requests Conventional?.- Summary and Conclusions.- III. Social and Cultural Aspects of Language and Social Situations.- 7. The Language of Requesting in Israeli Society.- The Background to Studying Requests.- Requesting as Strategic Interaction.- Design of the Research.- Results.- Discussion: Situational Variations in Requesting.- The Nature of the Ethos of Directness in Israeli Society: A Case of Solidarity Politeness?.- Summary.- 8. In-Group/Out-Group Deixis: Situational Variation in the Verbs of Giving and Receiving in Japanese.- Social Deixis.- Group Identification in Japan: "Uti" and "Soto" Situations.- The Verbs of Giving and Receiving.- Situational Variations in Group Boundaries.- Deictic Projection.- Conclusion.- 9. Situational Influences on Perceptions of Accented Speech.- Situational Influences on the Perception of Speech.- The Macrolevel Situation in Australia.- Situational Context, Ethnicity, and Gender: Three Australian Studies.- Perceptions of Accented Speech in Person-Centered Situations.- Integration and Conclusions.- 10. Situational Rhetoric and Self-Presentation.- Language and Self-Presentation.- Aggro-Talk: The Rhetoric of Aggressive Situations.- Gossip: The Rhetoric of Situational Control.- File-Speak: The Rhetoric of Character Transcription.- Situational Rhetoric in Science.- Conclusions.- IV. Situational Influences on Communication Problems.- 11. A Situational Theory of Disqualification: Using Language to "Leave the Field".- Background.- Theory and Measurement of Disqualification.- Experimental Research.- Conclusions.- 12. Slips in Interaction: The Psychopathology of Everyday Discourse.- Slips of the Tongue Versus Slips in Interaction.- Slips and the Components of a Speech Situation.- The Sequential Organization of Conversation.- The Content of Conversation.- The Interplay of the Interactants.- Slips and Discourse Planning.- Conclusion.- 13. Situational Variation in Speech Dysfluencies in Interpersonal Communication.- Towards a Model of Situational Variation in Speech Dysfluencies.- The Social Character of Stuttering.- Situational Variations in Stuttering.- Psychological Aspects of Situational Difficulty in Everyday Interaction.- Subjectively Perceived Characteristics of Situations.- Speech Dysfluency in Normally Fluent Speakers.- Communication Responsibility, Need for Control, and Speech Dysfluencies.- Conclusions.- 14. Epilogue: On the Situational Nature of Language and Social Interaction.- How Is Language Situational?.- Methodological Eclecticism.- The Search for a Theory Linking Language and Situations.- Future Prospects for a Theory of Situated Language Use.- Conclusions.- Author Index.